Robbie
@zoqaeski.bsky.social
Railway aficionado and occasional worldbuilder.
Melbourne should take a lot of lessons from Zürich on how to manage traffic and transit on arterial streets.
Two examples from Zurich of how indirect maneuvers help simplify intersection management and deliver effective Transit Priority even in very complex junctions, as part of a broader circulation plan.
The Bellevue/Stadelhofen and Kreuplatz nodes
The Bellevue/Stadelhofen and Kreuplatz nodes
December 9, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Melbourne should take a lot of lessons from Zürich on how to manage traffic and transit on arterial streets.
Hot take: Melbourne needs more stations with layouts like East Pakenham where express trains can overtake stopping trains. We also just need more quad-tracked sections in general.
November 30, 2025 at 6:41 AM
Hot take: Melbourne needs more stations with layouts like East Pakenham where express trains can overtake stopping trains. We also just need more quad-tracked sections in general.
Reposted by Robbie
![4-panel vertical comic. (1) 100 Years Ago [two people standing next to bicycle with small car nearby] PERSON 1: It’s too dangerous riding a bike with these cars around. I should get a car, too. (2) 50 Years Ago [two people between smaller car and bigger car] PERSON 2 with short hair: Small cars are less safe in collisions with larger vehicles, so I should get a bigger one. (3) Today [two people between big car and even bigger car] PERSON 1: Everyone has huge SUVs now. If I don’t get the biggest one, I’m putting my family at risk. (4) Soon [two people next to large armored car with spiked clubs attached] PERSON 2: If I don’t install more whirling spike clubs, I’ll be destroyed by all the other drivers who...](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreiby6can6k76yzfmv2czxs4pu2l7zie7bqbrpswi7h3ifmiadkuqvu@jpeg)
Reposted by Robbie
Superb example of the genre of "AI produces bad outputs, but what can we do, we're stuck with it so the solution is somehow 'AI literacy' rather than plugging the holes from which slop oozes"
Boy are people fatalistic in the face of tech that is within our power to regulate, marginalise, reject
Boy are people fatalistic in the face of tech that is within our power to regulate, marginalise, reject
Help, the bot I fed on racism has turned out to be a racist. theconversation.com/historical-i...
Historical images made with AI recycle colonial stereotypes and bias – new research
Generative AI is known to mirror sexist and racist stereotypes, but it also carries a colonial bias that is reinforcing outdated ideas about the past.
theconversation.com
October 24, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Superb example of the genre of "AI produces bad outputs, but what can we do, we're stuck with it so the solution is somehow 'AI literacy' rather than plugging the holes from which slop oozes"
Boy are people fatalistic in the face of tech that is within our power to regulate, marginalise, reject
Boy are people fatalistic in the face of tech that is within our power to regulate, marginalise, reject
Reposted by Robbie
“I keep scraping my car on the bike lane barriers, so the barriers must go!” always indicates someone whose driver’s licence must go
Horrific, people hitting the concrete demonstrates exactly why the concrete was needed.
Our sheltered bike lane has been removed because ppl kept hitting the concrete
October 24, 2025 at 8:36 AM
“I keep scraping my car on the bike lane barriers, so the barriers must go!” always indicates someone whose driver’s licence must go
We also want reliable trains.
The train in the second photo is a Hankyu 6300 series train bound for Osaka Umeda, and the one in the fourth photo is a Keihan 80 series, possibly in Kyoto on Sanjo Street.
The train in the second photo is a Hankyu 6300 series train bound for Osaka Umeda, and the one in the fourth photo is a Keihan 80 series, possibly in Kyoto on Sanjo Street.
most people don't want politics that hurt other people. we just want a long overcoat like david bowie and affordable housing
October 20, 2025 at 8:18 AM
We also want reliable trains.
The train in the second photo is a Hankyu 6300 series train bound for Osaka Umeda, and the one in the fourth photo is a Keihan 80 series, possibly in Kyoto on Sanjo Street.
The train in the second photo is a Hankyu 6300 series train bound for Osaka Umeda, and the one in the fourth photo is a Keihan 80 series, possibly in Kyoto on Sanjo Street.
Reposted by Robbie
Congratulations to the sub who wrote this headline, the Graun should give them a raise
You won’t believe what degrading practice the pope just condemned
You won’t believe what degrading practice the pope just condemned
Communication must be freed from clickbait and misguided thinking, head of Catholic church tells journalists
The pope has condemned clickbait as a “degrading” part of journalism, at a private audience with global newswires.
Australian media representatives were among those to hear directly from Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican on Thursday with about 150 members of newswire alliance Minds International. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
October 9, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Congratulations to the sub who wrote this headline, the Graun should give them a raise
Apparently V/line was unintentionally testing slip coach operation on the Seymour line near Tallarook this morning. This could be useful if the Mansfield line ever reopened.
August 25, 2025 at 4:55 AM
Apparently V/line was unintentionally testing slip coach operation on the Seymour line near Tallarook this morning. This could be useful if the Mansfield line ever reopened.
Reposted by Robbie
State capacity is when you can look at a super narrow (750mm) 1880' suburb-to-rural single track rail line with 50 yo cars and can decide
"we should upgrade it to 1m gauge, increase frequency, triple platform length *and make it driverless*.
But keep it single tracked"
Then do construction in 1 year
"we should upgrade it to 1m gauge, increase frequency, triple platform length *and make it driverless*.
But keep it single tracked"
Then do construction in 1 year
August 20, 2025 at 4:03 PM
State capacity is when you can look at a super narrow (750mm) 1880' suburb-to-rural single track rail line with 50 yo cars and can decide
"we should upgrade it to 1m gauge, increase frequency, triple platform length *and make it driverless*.
But keep it single tracked"
Then do construction in 1 year
"we should upgrade it to 1m gauge, increase frequency, triple platform length *and make it driverless*.
But keep it single tracked"
Then do construction in 1 year
I knew ARTC maintains their track to a poor standard but I never expected the Melbourne–Adelaide line to be this bad. The train bounces and sways and feels like it is galloping along. Every few hundred metres there's a BANG as the wheels jolt over a mud hole or something.
August 14, 2025 at 10:51 PM
I knew ARTC maintains their track to a poor standard but I never expected the Melbourne–Adelaide line to be this bad. The train bounces and sways and feels like it is galloping along. Every few hundred metres there's a BANG as the wheels jolt over a mud hole or something.
I love not being able to see out the window of my tram during dark and rainy weather. Why do we allow advertising to take up so much space?
August 12, 2025 at 7:37 AM
I love not being able to see out the window of my tram during dark and rainy weather. Why do we allow advertising to take up so much space?
Japanese stations are a bit like that, aren't they?
on the other hand, i haven't been to a chinese station that has the kind of internal layout as a major japanese one as seen in this gif of hakata station
a black and white photo of an optical illusion of stairs in a building .
ALT: a black and white photo of an optical illusion of stairs in a building .
media.tenor.com
August 5, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Japanese stations are a bit like that, aren't they?
On Monday, there was denial and anger. On Tuesday, the union got involved so that was bargaining. Yesterday was depression and today there's acceptance, I guess. Hopefully I'll be able to find a new role soon.
July 25, 2025 at 1:41 AM
On Monday, there was denial and anger. On Tuesday, the union got involved so that was bargaining. Yesterday was depression and today there's acceptance, I guess. Hopefully I'll be able to find a new role soon.
This is ridiculous and I am glad Australia has the sense and decency to have independent Electoral Commissions for the Federal and State levels.
One of the proposed Texas gerrymanders includes a long skinny district snaking from Houston to the tip of the Panhandle, which is over 600 miles 🙃
July 22, 2025 at 7:01 AM
This is ridiculous and I am glad Australia has the sense and decency to have independent Electoral Commissions for the Federal and State levels.
I will never be a morning person, but there is definitely something to be said for watching the sky get slowly lighter from the window of a train as it travels through the countryside. The darkness turns to silhouettes, and the fields are pale with frost, a foggy haze settled over the landscape.
July 17, 2025 at 9:24 PM
I will never be a morning person, but there is definitely something to be said for watching the sky get slowly lighter from the window of a train as it travels through the countryside. The darkness turns to silhouettes, and the fields are pale with frost, a foggy haze settled over the landscape.
Immediately after Sunbury station the track quality becomes significantly rougher. For all my complaining about Metro Trains, they certainly maintain their tracks to a much better condition than V/line does. The Bendigo line could certainly do with some extra ballast and a good tamping.
July 17, 2025 at 8:36 AM
Immediately after Sunbury station the track quality becomes significantly rougher. For all my complaining about Metro Trains, they certainly maintain their tracks to a much better condition than V/line does. The Bendigo line could certainly do with some extra ballast and a good tamping.
Apparently Monty isn't the only hungry bridge in Melbourne. Even better is that the Racecourse Rd bridge has a tram pass under it, so it would have been a ZAP as well as BANG.
Perhaps motorists should learn to read low clearance signs?
Perhaps motorists should learn to read low clearance signs?
July 16, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Apparently Monty isn't the only hungry bridge in Melbourne. Even better is that the Racecourse Rd bridge has a tram pass under it, so it would have been a ZAP as well as BANG.
Perhaps motorists should learn to read low clearance signs?
Perhaps motorists should learn to read low clearance signs?
I wish we did this in Melbourne. It would be so much better than the incomprehensible voice that plays on the intercom.
If you go even further there's Japan, where every single station gets its own dedicated jingle that reflects its identity! For Tokyo specifically, you can see composer (and ex-Casiopea keyboardist) Minoru Mukaiya tall about it: youtu.be/nSG5IkRA9BE
In Tokyo, These Trains Jingle All the Way
YouTube video by Great Big Story
youtu.be
July 11, 2025 at 12:38 AM
I wish we did this in Melbourne. It would be so much better than the incomprehensible voice that plays on the intercom.
Today's mood: pining for the fjords while being stuck in the office.
July 8, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Today's mood: pining for the fjords while being stuck in the office.
Reposted by Robbie
An oft-quoted claim about US freight is that it's the best in the world. The trouble is, as soon as you actually look at the data, it isn't by a long measure.
It’s so easy to say the U.S. rail system is the worst in the world. More accurately, its passenger rail network does not correspond with the country’s level of prosperity.
The entire intercity passenger system in the *WESTERN HEMISPHERE* is lousy. U.S. freight rail is the world’s best, though.
The entire intercity passenger system in the *WESTERN HEMISPHERE* is lousy. U.S. freight rail is the world’s best, though.
June 28, 2025 at 9:10 PM
An oft-quoted claim about US freight is that it's the best in the world. The trouble is, as soon as you actually look at the data, it isn't by a long measure.
ARTC doesn't believe this is possible, and hasn't designed Inland Rail with future electrification in mind.
Suxi Container Terminal serves the Ningbo-Jinhua Railway (Yongjin Railway) an electric traction double-stack container railway. Currently the railway is under testing with consists of double-stack high cube shipping containers in wellcars pulled by electric locomotives. Video by SS-287....
June 30, 2025 at 11:14 PM
ARTC doesn't believe this is possible, and hasn't designed Inland Rail with future electrification in mind.
Reposted by Robbie
Melbourne and Sydney are cities of similar population. Compare almost any two railway stations and you'll find Sydney has more train services at most times of the week - especially on weekends and evenings when more and more people want to travel. It's time we caught up.
June 14, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Melbourne and Sydney are cities of similar population. Compare almost any two railway stations and you'll find Sydney has more train services at most times of the week - especially on weekends and evenings when more and more people want to travel. It's time we caught up.
Reposted by Robbie
It took quite a while, but the paper about the history of high-speed rail planning in Italy that I co-authored with @beriapaolo.bsky.social is finally out!
It's open source, so you can read it at length (it is pretty long),
But here is a TL;DR: 🧵
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
It's open source, so you can read it at length (it is pretty long),
But here is a TL;DR: 🧵
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
June 21, 2025 at 4:59 PM
It took quite a while, but the paper about the history of high-speed rail planning in Italy that I co-authored with @beriapaolo.bsky.social is finally out!
It's open source, so you can read it at length (it is pretty long),
But here is a TL;DR: 🧵
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
It's open source, so you can read it at length (it is pretty long),
But here is a TL;DR: 🧵
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Robbie
amtrak’s marketing team gets it
June 21, 2025 at 12:21 PM
amtrak’s marketing team gets it
I know Comeng trains are too close to retirement to be modified, but why did they persist with the 2+3 seating in their last refurbishment? It makes getting around on board them during the peak so much more difficult.
June 10, 2025 at 10:09 PM
I know Comeng trains are too close to retirement to be modified, but why did they persist with the 2+3 seating in their last refurbishment? It makes getting around on board them during the peak so much more difficult.